Tapas two ways

I've always loved eating out and trying new restaurants but since I moved out and got myself a boyfriend (two separate unrelated events), I seem to have been eating out a bit less. But no fear; this week I went back to my roots (back to Beeston) for 2 lovely meals out which were both tapas but couldn't have been more different.

On Wednesday, I went out with my family for my Grandma's birthday meal, where we started with happy hour cocktails (a great start to any meal). The food at Bendigo lounge is a bargain (3 tapas for £10 - free glass of wine on tuesdays too) and even though I often get tempted by the main meals, I always go fro the tapas in the end. This time, I got meatballs, calamari and halloumi/pepper/courgette mix and everything was lovely. And of course, it wouldn't be a birthday meal without cake so we finished by singing happy birthday to my grandma over a slice of carrot cake.

Next up on the menu (pardon the pun) was something slightly different and not something I've ever seen before; Japanese tapas. Sora Japanese Kitchen is a tiny little place, no bigger than someone's living room, and is kitted out with loads of cute little trinkets and decorations. They do main meals as well but me and Laura both decided to go with the tapas in the end. We started with Japanese tea (served in an adorable teapot and blossom print cups) and then got honey duck, chicken gyozas, crispy tofu, rolled eggs, miso salmon and tempura king prawns. Everything was incredible and the kind of quality that you'd expect in a much fancier place! The total bill was less than £25 each, but the fish was particularly expensive so you could easily get it even cheaper if you swapped the salmon out for another meat/veggie dish.